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Google set to blow open the tablet market later this year with $99 Nexus tablet
- eckyptang 14y agoI know this is purely anecdotal, but everyone I've seen recently who has bought a tablet, bought a laptop within 6 months or switched back to their old laptop and got rid of it. I'm still not convinced by the tablet hype. The star trek wow factor wears off pretty quick for most people. A $99 tablet may change that (temporarily as it's almost impulse buy pricing), but I'm not sure something of that price will have anything groundbreaking to add.
- Toshio 14y agoRemember tablets are still not a mass market phenomenon, despite record sales of iPads. Sub $100 pricing might just be what the doctor ordered. I'm rooting for either Google's new Nexus or Apple's new iPad mini to saturate the low end.
- iLock 14y agolook up on ebay. Many tablets under 100 are available with decent specs. Availability of low priced tablets is not what is keeping the market from exploding. It's the utility.
- Goronmon 14y agoI don't see most consumers being interested in buying their electronics from eBay.
- matwood 14y agolook up on ebay. Many tablets under 100 are available with decent specs. Availability of low priced tablets is not what is keeping the market from exploding. It's the utility. There's plenty of utility in a tablet. The problem with the current low cost ones is they suck as devices. The N7 is the first relatively low cost device to change that (plus having JB). A $99 N7 would basically take off.
- ljf 14y agoTrue, but 'the average buyer' is wary of buying these tablets - some might be good, but there are also a lot of bad ones, with batteries that only last 2 to 4 hours tops and drop off over weeks of use, and and no simple way to return one for repair or replacement without forking out to send back to China etc. If it's from a well known brands I am SURE they would do a lot better - heck even Binatone (and low rate cordless phone manufacturer) was able to shift a good number of their android 'ebook reader' (I got one for £30 from ebay, OK for reading books on the tube, not for much else). So once someone like Google, Asus or Samsung sell a well made unit that stands up to the test of daily family use, then these things ae going to fly. 99% of what I do at home with a laptop (or ipod touch) is basic consumption. These will be a welcome replacement for many users.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- veesahni 14y agoI think a $99 tablet could open access to new markets.. for example, those who don't care to replace their laptop with a tablet but wouldn't mind one sitting around in their family room and/or kitchen for quick browsing on a bigger screen than a phone.
- levesque 14y agoFor me, the tablet clearly does not replace a laptop for serious emailing and browsing. However, it's perfect as a window to the internets. I read my RSS feeds on it, check my facebook, browse some hacker news (although I still find clients lacking). That's about all I do with it, but that sums up to a good 1-2 hours per day so I would hardly call it a waste.
- eckyptang 14y agoI don't have any feeds or Facebook. That was a far better solution if you ask me.
- levesque 14y agoThis is silly, you are telling me that my way of living sucks and I should change it. I enjoy this stuff, reading articles, stories. I don't read news papers or magazines, this is how I get my information and news.
- eckyptang 14y agoNot at all. I'm saying that it works for me versus buying another device to consume with. To me it doesn't matter what the medium is - it's still the same thing.
- glhaynes 14y agoLiterally nobody cares that you don't have the same desires as they do.
- eckyptang 14y agoAnd likewise nobody cares that you disagree with me, including me. It's an opinion. Chill.
- stephengillie 14y ago...or switched back to their old one... Switched back to their old what? Tablet? So these are tablet owners who bought another tablet, didn't like the new one, and went back to their old one? Edit: Oh, so everyone who has tried a tablet went to a laptop, either an old laptop or a new one. Thanks for clarifying :)
- eckyptang 14y agoClarified - thanks :)
- bergie 14y agoI've found a tablet to be handy for maintaining work-life balance. My laptop is the "work device", and I do not open it at home except if I actually need to do work. The tablet (currently Nexus 7) in the other hand is the "browsing device" that I use for reading stuff, social networking, etc. while at home or travelling. I've been using internet tablets ever since the early Maemo days of 2006, and that has probably given me time to get used to the idea and integrate it in my daily routines.
- watty 14y agoCompletely. I want to use my tablet but always end up using my laptop on the couch or desk. The only times I prefer a tablet would be on an airplane or in bed.
- kyriakos 14y agosame here! it replaced bed reading material.
- debacle 14y agoThey're fun. I can code on them so long as I don't mind waiting a long time for the compiler to run, and I find the screens are easier on the eyes in the dark. But I'd never try and use one to do my job.
- jimhefferon 14y ago> everyone I've seen recently who has bought a tablet, bought a laptop within 6 months Yes, my wife got an IPad from work and after the initial excitement, at least around my house, the "I" proves to stand for "IMDB", which is its main use.
- stephenhuey 14y agoI like the iPad but I have never owned a tablet. However, if I had one laying around I think I'd make use of it for lots of online reading if nothing more. There's a dev I know in Houston who has been charging lawyer rates for years to train corporate teams in iOS development. Perhaps some of those gigs are triggered by a C-level guy getting excited by the Star Trek wow factor and wanting the IT department to build lots of dashboard UIs for his shiny new tablet, but I really do think there are lots of such dashboard use cases for employees at all levels of an organization and a tablet makes more sense for many of these employees to use for a lot of their job functions.
- webwanderings 14y agoTablets should eventually be sold for $0 with advertising attached. They are entertainment devices and not really a serious machines like laptop or desktop for any productivity work. If we were not willing to attach telephones to our hips, I believe tablets would have been the only device we had bought in addition to computers.
- Toshio 14y agoIt will be interesting to see what kind of tradeoffs are required to go that low on the price - 2GB RAM, weaker GPU?
- eckyptang 14y agoProbably shitty battery which is the thing that kills viability of a device.
- zalew 14y agomy wild guess is the $199 will get 4g, while the $99 will be wifi only like the current nexus7. and obviously less storage.
- damian2000 14y agoBYO memory card storage perhaps.
- damian2000 14y agoYou can get a decent amount of hardware for that price, as long as they aren't going to want to make a profit. Apples vs oranges I know, but look at the (made in UK) Raspberry Pi for $35.
- rmc 14y agoMy guess is that Google will subsidize each one, to grown the Android market/install base. Many video game consoles are/were sold at a loss.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- dj2stein9 14y agoI hope all Android OEMs are fully aware that Google has tricked them all into a race to the bottom. That's pretty much been Google's strategy against all its competitors to date.
- Toshio 14y agoAlso known as free market competition at its finest.
- jerf 14y agoWhat's your proposed alternative?
- Kylekramer 14y agoAndroid OEMs were never really in the race. They all tried, for sure, but they all fell flat on their faces. At this point, I think it is fair to say that the only competitors in the space are Apple and companies that view tablets as a portal to their real business (Amazon/B&N/Google).
- thedeuce 14y agoYou're right, samsung is not making any money; I think they just filed for chapter 11.
- bryanlarsen 14y agoThere was essentially no Google Android tablet market before the Nexus 7, only the Amazon & Nook forks. Manufacturers will be happier having a market with no margin, than no market at all.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- lucian1900 14y agoAlmost all other Android OEMs fucked up by not providing stock Android or supporting their custom versions. Serves them right, if you ask me.
- zaptheimpaler 14y agoI just picked up a Nexus 7 today :| May have been a bad time to buy. Any thoughts on whether I should sell it? It's still completely packaged, haven't opened it yet.
- thedeuce 14y agonah the nexus 7 is a great device..i love mine..when the 99$ one comes out make it a repackaged holiday gift :D
- iLock 14y agoNot because a cheaper one is coming, that is always the case, but because pretty soon you will find out that there is not much utility to it... IMO
- wetyeti 14y agoI'm curious as to what you mean by lack of utility? Could you explain please
- matwood 14y agoiLock just doesn't like tablets. Most geeks are going to want more from any device they own (including a typical computer). The average consumer thinks otherwise though. Consuming and posting little blurbs is the majority of what consumer do, and tablets are great for that use case. The N7 is the first non-Apple tablet that I think really challenges the iPad for that average consumer. The N7 at $99 could change the tablet landscape.
- wetyeti 14y agoSee I know the limits of a tablet. It is not some fancy all singing device. If I want serious power I get on my desktop or laptop. But as a device to surf the web or read an ebook it is much nicer to use a tablet than have a laptop on my lap
- deleted 14y ago
- macavity23 14y agoI don't think Apple will be unhappy to see this at all. The most recent figures I've seen have the iPad at around 70% market share. There's no chance that will survive after this kind of device appears, but I would guess Apple would be very happy to own, say, the top 40% of the market while the Android OEMs bleed each other dry at tiny margins. Witness Apple's killer execution in the laptop market - and there they've fought there way upwards from virtually nothing, whereas with tablets they're starting with the dominant ecosystem.
- riffraff 14y agopardon me, I don't understand your reasoning. Why would apple be less happy with 70% of the market than with 40%? Do you mean that you expect the total size of the market to double, and then expect apple to own 40% of it (so they have a total number of customers which is slightly more than what they had initially) ?
- bilbo0s 14y agoI think he means, in layman's terms, Apple wants to sell Mercedes... Someone else can sell Kia's. Edit: Not sure how that will work out in the tablet market, but it certainly works with cars and laptops.
- 16s 14y agoNewer Kia's are the best value money can buy. They are solid and very reliable automobiles. And, they cost 10 times less than a Mercedes. Smart buyers buy them.
- frederico 14y agoGreat.. another low budget tablet that I'm going to need to support when developing android applications. why didn't I just stick to iOS?
- recursive 14y agoMaybe you wanted access to a faster expanding market?
- EwanToo 14y agoAsus have aparantly already denied this, not that it means much. [1] It seems pretty unlikely to me, most of the $99 tablets available on AliExpress are significantly underpowered, especially around the areas of battery and screen quality. Google haven't released a sub-standard Nexus device yet, I'm not sure why they'd do it now, when according to all the reports I've seen the Nexus tablet is doing pretty well. 1 - http://www.reghardware.com/2012/09/27/asus_rumored_to_reject_99_dollar_nexus_7_rumor/ http://www.reghardware.com/2012/09/27/asus_rumored_to_reject...
- glanch 14y agoI've never heard of AliExpress. Looks like crazy cheap stuff smuggled out of Chinese factories.. anyone use it with good results?
- JoelSutherland 14y agoIf this is true, I would wager it has the same specs as the current Nexus 7. The Tegra 3 that is currently used is printed on an out-dated 40nm process: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra#Tegra_3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra#Tegra_3 Printing the same chip on say a 32nm or 28nm process (Like the iPad 2,4) would dramatically reduce the cost. This would also allow them to use a smaller battery and achieve the same battery life. The major challenge is the LCD panel. It's plausible they could continue to use the same IPS screen, but using a nice TN screen is another place they could cut costs. They could also just wager that these are going to sell like crazy and work out a deal at volume like Apple does.
- el_duderino 14y agoLol, bgr.
- error54 14y agoA quick google search (http://bit.ly/RkNKpF http://bit.ly/RkNKpF) shows that there are plenty of tablets under $99. I think sub $100 tablet by Google will be good for the market but not any huge game changer like the article makes it out to be.
- indiecore 14y agoYes, pretty much all of those are junk though. The Nexus line is very much NOT junk and coming from Google means they have to stake a bit of their reputation on it. Personally I'm excited if only because it'll be a good way to get a tablet sized device to test apps on.
- martythemaniak 14y agoWell, the low-end N7 has a $152 bill of materials and has some fairly high-end hardware, so putting in slightly lower-end hardware (dual core chip, 1,024 x 600 display etc) can get the tablet close to $99. The other thing to note is that Google can probably afford to lose a bit of money on these, since it'll only take a few months (say, q2 '13) for them to really drop to $99. Seems like having the only $99 this holiday season is worth a couple of hundred millions (think of it as a huge advertising campaign).
- mikecane 14y agoA quality $99 name-brand tablet would impact the eInk device market the most. Why would someone buy a $139 Nook or $179 Kindle when they could get a tablet for less? (Yes, I know how eInk is "better for the eyes" -- but we are talking the general population here, who have not embraced eInk in droves and who probably don't want to read books, either.)
- rkudeshi 14y agoThis is already happening. I don't have a citation handy, but about a year ago, I believe Barnes & Noble was saying that its Nook Tablet was outselling the e-ink Kindles (this was before the Kindle Fire was introduced).
- jareds 14y agoI’d be much more willing to spend $99 on a Google tablet then $99 on another cheap Chinese tablet. I bought a Novo 7 several months ago to test out the accessibility of Android verses iOS as a blind user. Since it was Android somewhat modified by the manufacturer I needed sited help to install a TTS engine as well as install the talkback screen reader. I then had to remove a bunch of crapware, and deal with the fact that the tablet was somewhat underpowered providing me with a substandard experience. I was not very impressed with the tablet’s accessibility, but don’t know how much of that is Google’s fault verses the manufacturer. In comparison with iOS I can take a device out of the box, turn it on, hit the home button three times, and it starts talking. After this experience I won’t be buying no name $99 Chinese tablets, and since I have an iPhone that works fine I can’t justify $199 for another device that would be nothing more than an excuse to test the accessibility of an OS I most likely won’t switch to any time soon. If you reduce the price from $199 to $99 and it’s a stock Android experience with the accessibility software preloaded I can justify $99 to test out the accessibility of an OS I most likely won’t switch to any time soon.
- graham_king_3 14y agoYou can already get a 7" android 4.0 tablet off aliexpress.com for $53, shipping included.
- GFischer 14y agoI haven't bought from that website specifically, but some coworkers and acquaintances have bought from dealextreme, alibaba, etc. They are incredibly bad. Several have resistive touchscreens, most have modified Androids that don't have Play store and don't install what you want, most have quality issues (for example my coworkers' has wifi connectivity problems), bad battery life, and overall terrible experience. I'll gladly pay double to ensure good quality and a good experience. Edit: aliexpress is part of alibaba (which is part-owned by Yahoo IIRC), so it's very likely what you get is similar to what I'm describing. Edit2: browsing, it seems most do come with capacitive touchscreens now. I don't see any with free shipping, but I'm not in the U.S.
- GFischer 14y agoIf they do that, it will be HUGE here for us in Uruguay and other Latin American countries. Any reduction in price means a 2x reduction here due to import taxes and other stuff, so a decent U$ 99 tablet will be the first quality sub-U$ 200 tablet here. They will also be available for direct import - you can't buy most stuff online here without paying heavy taxes, but sub-U$ 200 after taxes and shipping can be imported directly for personal use. I will personally buy several, if this is the case (one for me, one for my gf, and some for my family members).